Follow Us On Twitter

Schedule A Group Presentation

Make a Gift and Change a Life

Plan A Short-term Mission Trip

Latest Posts

Barnabas, “son of consolation” (Acts 4:36)., a person Luke described as “a good man” (11:24), was chosen and sent by the Jerusalem church to investigate the mixed congregation of Jews and Gentiles in Syrian Antioch.

Most of us live hurried lives. We are hard pressed at work, at home, and at church to accomplish more than a twenty-four hour day seems to allow. The demands are overwhelming. In fact, full

“Called also Salem, Ariel, Jebus, the “city of God,” the “holy” “city;” by the modern Arabs el-Khuds, meaning “the holy;” once” the city of Judah (2 Chr. 25:28). This name is in the original “in the dual form, and means “possession of peace,” or” foundation of peace. The dual form probably refers to the two “mountains on which it was built, viz., Zion and Moriah; or, as” “some suppose, to the two parts of the city, the “upper” and the” “lower city. Jerusalem is a “mountain city enthroned on a” “mountain fastness” (comp. Ps. 68:15, 16; 87:1; 125:2; 76:1, 2;” 122:3). It stands on the edge of one of the highest table-lands “in Palestine, and is surrounded on the south-eastern, the” “southern, and the western sides bydeep and precipitous ravines.” “It is first mentioned in Scripture under the name Salem (Gen. 14:18; comp. Ps. 76:2). When first mentioned under the name “Jerusalem, Adonizedek was its king (Josh. 10:1). It is” afterwards named among the cities of Benjamin (Judg. 19:10; 1 Chr. 11:4); but in the time of David it was divided between Benjamin and Judah. After the death of Joshua the city was taken and set onfireby the men of Judah (Judg. 1:1-8); but the Jebusites were not wholly driven out of it. The city is not again mentioned till we are told that David brought the head of Goliath thither (1 Sam. 17:54). David afterwards led his forces “against the Jebusites still residing within its walls, and drove” “them out, fixing his own dwelling onZion, which he called “the” “city of David” (2 Sam. 5:5-9; 1 Chr. 11:4-8). Here he built an” altar to the Lordon the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite “(2 Sam. 24:15-25), and thither he brought up the ark of the” covenant and placed it in the new tabernacle which he had prepared for it. Jerusalem now became the capital of the kingdom. “After the death of David, Solomon built the temple, a house for “the name of the Lord, onMountMoriah (B.C. 1010). He also” “greatly strengthened and adorned the city, and it became the” great centre of all the civil and religious affairs of the nation (Deut. 12:5; comp. 12:14; 14:23; 16:11-16; Ps. 122). “After the disruption of the kingdom on the accession to the “throne of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, Jerusalem became the” capital of the kingdom of the two tribes. It was subsequently “often taken and retaken by the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and by” “the kings of Israel (2 Kings 14:13, 14; 18:15, 16; 23:33-35;” “24:14; 2 Chr. 12:9; 26:9; 27:3, 4; 29:3; 32:30; 33:11), till” “finally, for the abounding iniquities of the nation, after a” “siege of three years, it was taken and utterly destroyed, its” “walls razed to the ground, and its temple and palaces consumed” “byfire, byNebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon (2 Kings 25; 2” “Chr. 36; Jer. 39), B.C. 588. The desolation of the city and the” land was completed by the retreat of the principal Jews into “Egypt (Jer. 40-44), and by the final carrying captive into” “Babylon of all that still remained in the land (52:3), so that” it was left without an inhabitant (B.C. 582). Compare the “predictions, Deut. 28; Lev. 26:14-39.” “But the streets and walls of Jerusalem were again to be built, “in troublous times (Dan. 9:16, 19, 25), after a captivity of” “seventy years. This restoration was begun B.C. 536, “in the” “first year of Cyrus” (Ezra 1:2, 3, 5-11). The Books of Ezra and” Nehemiah contain the history of the re-building of the city and “temple, and the restoration of the kingdom of the Jews,” consisting of a portion of all the tribes. The kingdom thus “constituted was for two centuries under the dominion of Persia,” “till B.C. 331; and thereafter, for about a century and a half,” “under the rulers of the Greek empire in Asia, till B.C. 167. For” a century the Jews maintained their independence under native “rulers, the Asmonean princes. At the close of this period they” “fell under the rule of Herod and of members of his family, but” “practically under Rome, till the time of the destruction of” “Jerusalem, A.D. 70. The city was then laid in ruins.” “The modern Jerusalem by-and-by began to be built over the immense beds of rubbish resulting from the overthrow of the “ancient city; and whilst it occupies certainly the same site,” there are no evidences that even the lines of its streets are now what they were in the ancient city. Till A.D. 131 the Jews who still lingered about Jerusalem quietly submitted to the “Roman sway. But in that year the emperor (Hadrian), in order to” “hold them in subjection, rebuilt and fortified the city. The” “Jews, however, took possession of it, having risen under the” “leadership of one Bar-Chohaba (i.e., “the son of the star”) in” revolt against the Romans. Some four years afterwards (A.D. “135), however, they were driven out of it with great slaughter,” and the city was again destroyed; and over its ruins was built a “Roman city called Aelia Capitolina, a name which it retained” “till it fell under the dominion of the Mohammedans, when it was” “called el-Khuds, i.e., “the holy.” “In A.D. 326 Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with the view of discovering the places mentioned in the life of our Lord. She caused a church to be built on what was then supposed to be the place of the nativity “at Bethlehem. Constantine, animated by her example, searched for” “the holy sepulchre, and built over the supposed site a” “magnificent church, which was completed and dedicated A.D. 335.” “He relaxed the laws against the Jews till this time in force,” and permitted them once a year to visit the city and wail over “the desolation of “the holy and beautiful house.” “In A.D. 614 the Persians, after defeating the Roman forces of “the emperor Heraclius, took Jerusalem by storm, and retained it” “till A.D. 637, when it was taken by the Arabians under the” “Khalif Omar. It remained in their possession till it passed, in” “A.D. 960, under the dominion of the Fatimite khalifs of Egypt,” and in A.D. 1073 under the Turcomans. In A.D. 1099 the crusader Godfrey of Bouillon took the city from the Moslems with great “slaughter, and was elected king of Jerusalem. He converted the” Mosque of Omar into a Christian cathedral. During the “eighty-eight years which followed, many churches and convents” were erected in the holy city. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre “was rebuilt during this period, and it alone remains to this” day. In A.D. 1187 the sultan Saladin wrested the city from the “Christians. From that time to the present day, with few” “intervals, Jerusalem has remained in the hands of the Moslems.” “It has, however, during that period been again and again taken” “and retaken, demolished in great part and rebuilt, nocity in” the world having passed through so many vicissitudes. “In the year 1850 the Greek and Latin monks residing in Jerusalem had a fierce dispute about the guardianship of what are called “the “holy places.” In this dispute the emperor Nicholas of” “Russia sided with the Greeks, and Louis Napoleon, the emperor of” “the French, with the Latins. This led the Turkish authorities to” settle the question in a way unsatisfactory to Russia. Out of “this there sprang the Crimean War, which was protracted and” “sanguinary, but which had important consequences in the way of” breaking down the barriers of Turkish exclusiveness. “Modern Jerusalem “lies near the summit of a broad “mountain-ridge, which extends without interruption from the” plain of Esdraelon to a line drawn between the southern end of “the Dead Sea and the southeastern corner of the Mediterranean.” “This high, uneven table-land is everywhere from 20 to 25” geographical miles in breadth. It was anciently known as the mountains of Ephraim and Judah. “Jerusalem is a city of contrasts, and differs widely from “Damascus, not merely because it is a stone town in mountains,” “whilst the latter is a mud city in a plain, but because while in” Damascus Moslem religion and Oriental custom are unmixed with “any foreign element, in Jerusalem every form of religion, every” “nationality of East and West, is represented at one time.” “Jerusalem is first mentioned under that name in the Book of “Joshua, and the Tell-el-Amarna collection of tablets includes” “six letters from its Amorite king to Egypt, recording the attack” of the Abiri about B.C. 1480. The name is there spelt Uru-Salim “(“city of peace”). Another monumental record in which the Holy” City is named is that of Sennacherib’s attack in B.C. 702. The “camp of the Assyrians was still shown about A.D. 70, on the” “flat ground to the north-west, included in the new quarter of” the city. “The city of David included both the upper city and Millo, and “was surrounded by a wall built byDavid and Solomon, who appear” to have restored the original Jebusite fortifications. The name “Zion (or Sion) appears to have been, like Ariel (“the hearth of” “God”), a poetical term for Jerusalem, but in the Greekage was” more specially used of the Templehill. The priests’ quarter “grew up onOphel, south of the Temple, where also was Solomon’s” Palace outside the original city of David. The walls of the city were extended byJotham and Manasseh to include this suburb and the Temple (2 Chr. 27:3; 33:14). “Jerusalem is now a town of some 50,000 inhabitants, with ancient “mediaeval walls, partly on the old lines, but extending less far” “to the south. The traditional sites, as a rule, were first shown” “in the 4th and later centuries A.D., and have no authority. The” “results of excavation have, however, settled most of the” “disputed questions, the limits of the Temple area, and the” course of the old walls having been traced.

““But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and […]